The 2024 esports season has officially wrapped up, and Esports Charts is reflecting on the year’s highlights. In this article, we’re taking a look at the top esports titles that offered the largest prize pools over the past year. While Dota 2 has held onto its crown for the fourth year in a row, there have been some significant shifts elsewhere on the list.
In 2024, Dota 2's prize pool totaled over $22,000,000, a 28% drop compared to 2023. The decline is largely due to the reduced prize pool at the Riyadh Masters, where the total prize money was cut from $15,000,000 to just $5,000,000, YoY.
Right now, Dota 2 holds the top spot as the esports game with the highest total prize money. Over the last eight years, more than $330,000,000 in prizes have been awarded, while its closest competitor, Counter-Strike, has handed out just $155,000,000 in that time.
Counter-Strike took the second place in 2024 ranking — the game saw a 10.5% increase in its total prize pool compared to last year. What's interesting is that Counter-Strike tops the list in terms of the number of tournaments held among the top 10 games, with over 700 tournaments in 2024. This year, six tournaments with prize pools over a million dollars have been held, and for 2025, 11 more tournaments have already been announced, including new series from PGL and FISSURE.
Honor of Kings made history as the fifth game ever to break the $20,000,000 prize pool barrier. Before it, only Dota 2, Counter-Strike, PUBG Mobile, and Fortnite had achieved this feat. Additionally, Honor of Kings boasted one of the highest average prize pools per tournament, with each event exceeding $410,000.
Just to recap, the biggest tournament of 2024 was the King Pro League Season Finals 2024, where players competed for ¥70,000,000 CNY (over $9,600,000). This year also saw the debut of the Honor of Kings Invitational Midseason 2024 in Saudi Arabia, a new midseason event with a prize pool of $3,050,000 — ten times larger than the prize pools of previous Honor of Kings Invitational Seasons.
Read also: Most viewed esports events of 2024
2024 was a landmark year not just for Honor of Kings, but for several other titles. The total prize pool for all PUBG Mobile events in 2024 was 26% lower than the previous year, but this was due to the tournament schedule. In 2023, there were two PUBG Mobile Global Championship events (the 2022 finals in January and the 2023 finals in December), which gave the overall numbers a big boost. That said PUBG Mobile had an incredibly impressive year, as its cumulative prize pool in 2024 reached an incredible $100,000,000.
Fortnite dropped two spots in the 2024 rankings, mainly due to the prize pool for the FNCS Global Championship being cut in half. Plus, the Esports World Cup 2024 had a prize pool that was only half of what Gamers8 2023 offered.
Towards the bottom of the rankings, Rainbow Six Siege saw a small boost. The tactical shooter moved up one spot from last year, though its total prize pool didn’t change much. In 2024, however, Rainbow Six Siege crossed the $50,000,000 mark in total prize money.
League of Legends and Valorant swapped places once again — two mainstays from Riot Games that consistently land in the top 10 for overall prize pools. By the end of 2024, League of Legends edged slightly ahead, thanks to the Esports World Cup 2024, where participants battled for a $1,000,000 prize.
Another standout was Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, which made a major leap from 15th to 9th place, landing its first-ever spot in the top 10. This surge was largely due to the MLBB Mid Season Cup 2024, held in Saudi Arabia, which became the biggest event in the game’s history.
PUBG: Battlegrounds was only the second game in the top ten (after Dota 2) to keep its position in the rankings. The game’s best year was 2021, when nearly $15,000,000 in prize money was awarded across PUBG: Battlegrounds tournaments, and it held the fourth spot in the rankings.
Top Esports Games of 2024 by Prize Pool
| Rank | Game
|
Total prize pool |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Dota 2 |
$22,683,587 |
| 2 |
Counter-Strike |
$22,676,007 |
| 3 |
Honor of Kings |
$20,606,718 |
| 4 |
PUBG Mobile |
$16,261,554 |
| 5 |
Fortnite |
$13,351,593 |
| 6 |
Rainbow 6 |
$9,561,658 |
| 7 |
League of Legends |
$9,232,452 |
| 8 |
Valorant |
$8,940,877 |
| 9 |
Mobile Legends |
$7,975,974 |
| 10 |
PUBG: Battleground |
$6,952,857 |
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